Stitches
by projectoverlord
Summary: An Avengers op goes bad. Clint ends up walking out of medical with twenty-three stitches and singing Celine Dion at the top of his lungs. The others don't look much better. Their loved ones come to collect them. Primarily Phil/Clint with references to other pairings. Rated T for language and very minor sexual content.


"Doctor Banner, Captain Rogers. Pepper," Phil addresses them as he enters the waiting room. Bruce smiles in a long-suffering fashion, and Pepper merely grins and nods her head. Steve doesn't really look away from the door. "How much longer are they predicting?"

"Natasha and Clint caught the worst of it," Cap tells him, "But they're all set to be released in the next few minutes."

Bruce leaps to his feet as Tony appears in the doorway. The billionaire loops an arm around his boyfriend's neck and hollers at the top of his lungs, "Brucie!"

Phil doesn't miss the way Banner cringes, and he, Pepper and Steve offer sympathetic smiles. Tony leans in to nuzzle at Bruce's neck, and a flush of red bursts onto the doctor's cheeks. They offer their goodbyes as Banner hauls a babbling Stark out of the waiting room. He's relatively certain he heard something in there about the chemical composition for laughing gas, but he's willing to give Stark a free pass - this time.

Natasha comes next, and the first and only sign she's on some pretty serious pain meds is the fact she's _smiling_. And not one of her_ I'm going to murder you_ smiles, but more of a_ fuck, this is a nice cloud I'm floating on_ smile. Coulson is 99% certain that even high as a kite, she could kill every person in the room, _while_ giggling like a 13 year old. Pepper pats her shoulder and blushes when Natasha proceeds to latch onto her lips with dogged determination. With great effort, Pepper prises her free and hurriedly apologises to the others. As the two women leave, Cap and Phil glance at each other and Cap struggles to hide a laugh. He's about to speak when a petite young woman enters the room. Coulson recognises her immediately. "Jane, he should be out in just a moment."

Jane smiles worriedly as Cap fills her in on the damage Thor had landed himself in. Though he had technically faced the most potential damage, he was far less fragile than his teammates.

"SON OF COUL! JANE! CAPTAIN!" A booming voice shouts.

Less fragile, perhaps, but seemingly no less susceptible to the effects of pain medication. Jane looks immediately set on edge, and turns to the other men in the room. Cap quickly offers to help her escort Thor to the Tower. They leave, all three of them, with Thor loudly proclaiming, "JANE, MOST WONDERFUL YOU LOOK TODAY. CAPTAIN, TO THE BATTLE! WAIT, WAIT, WHERE IS MJOLNIR! WRETCHES, THEY HAVE STOLEN MY MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSION! TO THE FRAY, CAPTAIN!"

A battle-scarred Clint Barton is the last to emerge. His arm bears a long bandage and the hint of a row of stitches poke out from beneath his incorrectly buttoned shirt. Phil looks at him, unable to contain a smile. Clint's face simply lights up as he spots his husband, and he waves. Then, suddenly, he takes great interest in his hand and waves it before his face. "Shining, like little angels."

Coulson lets him wrap an arm around his shoulders and sighs as Clint begins to belt at top volume, "YOU'RE HERE, THERE'S NOTHING I FEAR! AND I KNOW THAT THE HEART DO-mmgfh."

Phil smiles against Clint's lips and breaks the kiss to reach for the ring hanging around his neck. With great care not to jostle already bruised knuckles, he slides the gold band onto his husband's finger.

"Are you asking me to marry you?" Clint questions in a voice three octaves above normal, then exclaims, "I do! I DO!"

"We got married two and a half years ago," Phil tells him patiently. "That doesn't provide you immunity for being teased about this. Just be glad Tony is no worse off or you'd all be on tape right now."

"Bubble wrap!" Clint shouts, and bolts over to the wall. He proceeds, then, to poke mercilessly at the sterile white paint. The action is accompanied by his own popping sound effects.

Coulson prises him away from the wall and as they make for the car he feels warm, like butter sliding down toast. Clint may be mad and brave and downright crazy, but that's what Phil signed up for.

Leaning in, he kisses his giggling husband and runs a hand back through Clint's haphazard hair.

"If you behave, we can have a shower at home."

"Together?" Clint asks, eyes lighting up once again.

"Together." Phil answers, and as Clint slides into the passenger seat, he chuckles. The damage Hawkeye can do unsupervised, well, Tony's cleanup crews will kill him if he lets that happen again. "Do you want to listen to the radio?"

Clint nods his head emphatically, and behaves until the moment a good song comes on. Then he's got his head out the window, belting the lyrics as loud as he can. Phil just shakes his head and waits for a quiet moment to say, "You're going to swallow a bug."

They're offered a moment of silence, while the radio hosts talk. Phil glances over at the archer, just to make sure Clint's still alive over there.

What he finds is Clint staring back at him with a remarkably sober look. Then he smiles, crafty glint in his eyes, and Phil's 100% sure he doesn't want to know what comes next.

"I FUCKING LOVE YOU!" Barton shouts, half to Coulson and half out the window. He whoops loudly, then suddenly tenses and pulls his head back in to solemnly stare at Phil. "I'm behaving?"

"I can see that," Phil tells him. "You going to keep behaving?"

Grinning broadly, Clint nods. He manages, somehow, to keep his mouth shut the entire way back to Stark Tower. They make it into the elevator, and up to their personal level. Immediately, Clint starts to strip. He's in the bathroom turning the shower on before Phil's even undone his first button. Clint re-emerges, completely naked. Phil takes a moment to enjoy the scenery - the scenery that only _he_ gets to see. That only he gets to touch. A flush of possessiveness creeps up within him. Grabbing Clint, he pushes him into the wall and pins him there, hands threading together above their heads. He kisses him, deeply, but is careful not to bump any injuries.

"Water's gonna go cold," he says breathlessly when they break apart. Clint dashes in, and Phil hurries after him. He lays a hand on the archer's shoulder, to stop Clint before he can leap in, bandages and all. With great tenderness, he removes the bandages and helps Barton into the stream of warm water. It's a little on the hot side - the way they both prefer - and for a moment all Barton can manage is a boneless whimper.

Phil finishes stripping down, ignoring the devious glint that ignites in the younger man's eyes. He's quickly tugged under the water, and Clint grazes their lips together before moving down to bite and suck at Coulson's throat. His hands wander, too, and then it's Phil who is suddenly boneless. Stubble grazes against the tender skin of his neck, and Clint captures his lips again, pinning him to the wall to hold him steady. Phil's eyes flutter closed, and Clint kisses a line down his chest until he's reached his mark. His right hand snakes up and he pushes their palms together. Contact is important to him, Coulson knows. It's important to them both.

Yes, this is definitely what he signed up for. Clint on his good days, on his bad days, and whatever they get in between.

* * *

_So, yeah, this happened. I've been wanting to write fluff for these two and when it happened, it really went all out there. On a side note, if you haven't seen the video 'Coulson's Heart' on YouTube, you should watch it. Because of reasons. It's supposed to be crack but I'm so invested in this ship I can only cry when I watch it. It's the entire reason this fic has Hawkeye singing Celine Dion. Oh, and did you know Jeremy Renner can sing? Cause hot damn, that guy has a voice on him._

_Oh, and just so you don't all think I'm beating on Cap, he's got a very happy Bucky waiting for him back at the tower (or at least in my headcanon, he does)_


End file.
